Mother-of-two takes a stand against BNP

by Sharen Green | Thursday, 3 June 2004 Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo

A JEWISH mother-of-two is so disgusted at a flyer from the British National Party shoved through her letter-box that she is organising a march against racism in Shaftesbury.

The leaflet - distributed in the run-up to the Euro elections next week - says Britain is "exploding" because of "asylum bombers" and claims that there are two million illegal asylum seekers in the country. Zara McQueen, 41, has gathered cross-party support for the demonstration due to take place on Saturday morning.

"I think this leaflet demonises Muslims. In my view it is inciting race hatred which is against the law. It uses fear and anxiety to draw in people who have legitimate concerns without them fully understanding the full agenda of the BNP," she said.

Ms McQueen, who made the point that although she was Jewish, she did not support Israeli policy towards Palestinians, said the BNP was exploiting the confusion over religion and culture in Britain.

Mayor Lester Dibben is supporting the march to the town hall in his capacity as a private citizen.

Parliamentary hopefuls LibDem Emily Gasson and Labour Keith Yarwood will also attend alongside Green Party supporters.

Tory North Dorset MP Robert Walter said he, too, applauded what the marchers were doing.

But BNP spokesperson Dr Phil Edwards denied that his party was racist, saying the Shaftesbury protesters were childish, undemocratic "fascists" who did not want free speech.

He claimed to have "loads of support" in Shaftesbury but could not give any numbers and admitted he did not know where Shaftesbury was.

Ann Khambatta, director of the Dorset Race Equality Council who will speak at the demo, said: "The residents of Shaftesbury should be applauded for taking a stand and sending a strong message against racism out to the whole community."